Harper plays Politics of Fear on 'terrorism' and rattles sabres in his me-too silly, fatal American war in Iraq, and now Syria, disracting our attention while he betrays Canada with the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is worse than we thought.

There is a provision reported to be in the proposed trade deal called "Investor-State Dispute Settlement" or ISDS.

ISDS allows multinational corporations to challenge laws passed by our government — things like environmental or safety regulations — to potentially win millions of dollars in "damages" that would have to be paid by taxpayers. And they could do all this without ever having to go to court in the United States or Canada.

The text of the proposed TPP deal has been a secret — until now. The New York Times and WikiLeaks got their hands on the TPP text, and it's bad. The TPP would go further in undermining our laws and regulations, and it would benefit more big businesses than we'd originally believed.

The recent leak shows that the TPP would allow corporations to use ISDS to challenge Buy America or Buy Canada or “buy local” rules that favor domestic manufacturing. The new leak also shows that safeguards to limit the use of ISDS, shown in a 2012 leak of the TPP, are now gone.

ISDS is a secret tribunal. Its members would be corporate lobbyists who would not be acting in the best interests of you or me. The purpose of ISDS is to help big corporations make more money at our expense.

Some good examples of how corporations are using ISDS to attack laws designed to help working families: they sued Egypt for raising the minimum wage, and they sued Germany for eliminating nuclear power to keep its citizens safe.

Right now, Philip Morris is suing Australia for implementing tobacco regulations designed to cut smoking rates and protect children. Ironically, the leak shows that Australia has insisted it not be subject to ISDS — yet our own government still intends to make Canada vulnerable to ISDS and the big corporations.

For the sake of our country and its future we must do what we can to stand up to corporate power. The long and the short of it is that we must Stop Harper's further betrayal of Canada.

Meanwhile, take it easy but take it.

Looking forward.

Carl Dow

Editor and Publisher

True North Perspective

True North Humanist Perspective

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